AMHERST – More than 300 swabs were collected during a one-day One Match blitz at the Cumberland YMCA on Friday.

The event was organized by friends of Amherst’s Rod Wilson, who requires a bone marrow transplant to treat the return of his non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas.

“The day was a huge success with more than 80 donors at Mount Allison earlier Friday and 304 collected in Amherst,” Wilson’s friend Angie Lohnes said. “Also, when you consider the people who received kits in the mail over the last few weeks, the number is much higher. It only takes one to be a match.”

When he discovered that his cancer had returned in a much more aggressive form, Wilson turned to social media to ask for help, saying he was doing it for his eight-year-old daughter and for the more than 700 people presently on the transplant waiting list.

Among those to participate in the blitz were members of the Amherst CIBC Wood Gundy Ramblers, who showed up as a team on Friday evening.

The team has challenged other Maritime Junior Hockey League teams to participate.

Lohnes said people can still participate by going online to onematch.ca.

She said blood donor clinic is being held at the Amherst Lions Club on Nov. 18 and 19, adding blood donations are also important to transplant recipients. People can call 1-888-236-6283 to make an appointment.